The Transformation
by Hina-Kitsune
Summary: Four years after the Ceremonial Duel a new form of threat has been unleashed. Now the gang must once again fight to protect the city and maybe the world. A full summary is inside. Yugi/Serenity and Joey/Mai
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh characters. They are owned by Kazuki Takahashi. Though having Joey would be nice…

Summary: It's been three years since the Ceremonial Duel and things have calmed. However, that is all about to change as a supposedly normal day in a chemistry lab goes wrong. Now Yugi, Joey, and Serenity have to figure out how to deal with their new enemies as well as some new powers. This will have Yugi/Serenity and Joey/Mai and some Trinity Blood essence and some Tea-bashing of sorts. I need a villain to lead the enemies, and since she's not one of my favorite characters, well…

Please keep in mind this is one of my first stories to actually be put online, so any advice anyone has would be appreciated. Just please don't flame, I'm sorry if I don't have the same likes as you, but we all have our preferences. Oh, and I'm trying to use Joey's accent when typing, so please don't tell me there are mistakes with spelling, unless you can correct me on the way talks. If you're confused with his speech let me know, and I'll try to translate it for you. It's actually how I take notes in my college classes. Oh, and because of violence this maybe rated around T.

Well, here's the story:

Chapter One:

The Accident That Transpired

Yugi sat in a hospital room with two of his friends. He was really regretting having them and him take that science class. He wouldn't, had he known about the experimental nanomachines they would have been working on or the fact that Tea was in the class. In the bed beside him Joey sighed. "Kaiba jus had to have dat class work on dose stupid machines his company found. If he didn't know what dey were den why'd he have a college class work on them? Have you heard how da other students came out?"

"Not all of them made it…The doctors said the nanomachines attacked their organs and such and killed them. We were hit with some of the stronger nanomachines, but nothing's happened to us. Our doctor, Dr. Takani, said our wait period was up; we'll be fine, but they don't know if there will be any side effects or not." Serenity told her brother.

"I guess this is all my fault. If I hadn't wanted to get into this class so badly and waited like you guys wanted to, this wouldn't have happened. Or maybe I shouldn't have talked you two into taking it with me, and that way you two would be safe and I'd be the only one with this problem…"came Yugi sad comment.

"Yeah, and have us beatin ourselves up cuz of it, no way. We're glad we were wit you, cuz of dis week long holdin period wit no outside contact. Besides, da Shadow Magic is prolly holdin off any effects dose tings may have. Dat's why we ain't affected, or at least didn't die from it. But have ya heard if SHE made it out alive? SHE was kinda da reason for da explosion." Joey looked over at his best friends lowered head. Da lil' guy blames himself for everything, even if it ain't his fault. Dough he's always been like dat; even before HE came and changed our lives, but it got worse afta HE left and SHE betrayed us…I hope Yug doesn't still believe what SHE said dat day… Joey was broken from his thoughts when his sister began to speak again.

"They said she had a really nasty reaction to the machines even though she had a weaker dose than what we did. I wouldn't say it was because she was stripped of her Shadow Magic because those that lived other than us and her had those nano-robots in them, and they didn't act as violently to them as she did. Though they are all exhibiting the same symptoms and all of them are characteristic of a certain creature of myths: a vampire. It's strange, but I wonder why the nano-machines are making them act like that."

"Well, one dings for sure, SHE deserves dat after what she's done ("Joey, be nice."—Yugi). But you guys don't tink we'll end up like dat do ya. I mean da Shadow Magic could jus be holdin it off. What if dose tings react in us and we become vampires. I mean, den we couldn't go on wit da lives we had planned, could we?" Joey looked to Yugi for that answer. Of the three, the tri-colored haired young man knew the most about the Shadow Magic and its effects on the body.

"I'm not sure about that, Joey, but wouldn't it be safe to assume that if something like that was going to happen it would have already. I mean the others 'changed' already, and they had a weaker dose than we did. Was anyone else hit with the ones we were, Serenity?" Yugi answered, finally willing to become part of the conversation. Joey smiled; a puzzle to solve always broke the little guy out of his dark thoughts.

"Well, none of them are alive. We are the only ones out of the five that got hit with this version to survive, but before they died some weird things happened to them, though I couldn't hear what exactly. I think they realized they were by our door and didn't want to risk one of us hearing the things that happened." Serenity sighed. She hated not knowing what was going to happen to her or her friends. She had had enough of that during the time she was blind then the adventures her brother and his friends went on.

All of a sudden a knock on the door sounded and their doctor stepped in. She had long black hair that glistened blue in the light and wore a blue medical coat with white pants. She smiled at the three and said, "I see three young ones that are ready to leave the hospital, huh."

All three nodded in agreement and smiled when she showed them their release papers. "Just sign at the bottom and you can go, but remember I want to see you in two weeks for a check-up, unless something else comes up. Any strange occurrence or feeling, even an odd urge or craving, I want you to come back and report it to me personally. Of course if one needs to come, all of you come. It could affect all of you in some way. Well, I hope to see you again soon, but let's just hope not under these circumstances or because of problems," with that the doctor sat the papers down and stepped out of the room.

The three grabbed the papers, signed out, and spread out to change clothes. Serenity went to the bathroom, while the two boys changed in the room (Yugi, though, was behind the closet door where his clothes were). After they were done the friends walked out of the room and out into the waiting area to see Mai, Tristan, and Solomon waiting on them. The blonde haired woman ran to the blonde haired man and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him close to her. "I was so worried about you, Joey, all three of you. I thought I had lost my family again, baby."

"'ey we're alright now, Mai, and we're doin better den most da otha patients from da accident. We got our Shadow Magic so we're gonna be fine," Joey tried to comfort his girlfriend, but he understood. He knew how he would have felt if their roles would have been reversed. Heck, he knew they would have had to tie him down to keep him out of the room if the girl in his arms, Yugi, and his sister would have been in there instead.

Tristan one-arm hugged Yugi and Serenity, though he did bury his face in the boy's shoulder. His arms were too busy to be able to wipe the tears away and not let anyone see them. Yugi just smiled and patted the, still much taller, boy on the back. Both he and Serenity had their hands full, because Solomon decided he couldn't wait to hug his grandson any longer. He had been a nervous wreck after the school had called to inform him of the accident. He called the rest of the gang, the Kaibas, the Ishtars, and even Pegasus to tell them what happened before speeding down to the hospital to find out what was going on with his grandson and his 'adopted' grandkids. He had only beaten Tristan, Marik, and Ryou there by mere seconds with Duke, Mai, the remaining Ishtars, and the Kaibas next. Eventually Pegasus even showed up, worried. After spending more time with the group the half-blind man had come to see Yugi as a son, going as far as telling the boy's real father to not worry about ever having Yugi take over his company. He wanted him to take over I2 when he decided to retire. The boy had agreed as long as he could still go on archeological digs on the side. Of course it as allowed and the two had begun the papers of a semi-adoption. Yugi now had all of his college paid for and was also getting a large allowance, not counting the money he won at tournaments and received from governments due to some of the 'mishaps' of the old days. Though the boy was smart and invested most of it; keeping out only what he and his grandfather would need and (of course) some extra for fun. Joey ended up much the same way, and Pegasus was even overly willing to semi-adopt both him and Serenity. Since Yugi did it, Joey did, but Serenity refused it. She was grateful, and she made sure the man knew it. She just couldn't get over the weird feeling of her boyfriend being her adopted brother, even if it was just a limited adoption. Her older brother doing it made it feel weird enough. Pegasus laughed it off and let her know he understood, but the girl was still going to be in on everything the boys were. Pegasus really looked after the entire group, and it deeply scared him when Solomon called telling him the three were in an accident at school.

After a few more minutes of the reunion they all decided to go out and get something to eat before going home, or rather to Yugi's. Once they had returned to the Game Shop the others were waiting for them. Inside the three had to explain all that had happened. When the story was over the others took it all in. "And once again Yugi proves that hangin with him brings the weird stuff," Tristan joked while Yugi glared at him. "What? You know it's true, bro. Anyway, they're not sure what will end up happening to you guys?"

Yugi sighed, "Not yet. There may be nothing, or we may end up like the others. Or our Shadow Magic may change the outcome all the way around. Right now we just have to wait and see."

"If I had known this would have occurred, I would not have given the college those machines. I did keep a few containers of them, but I'm not going to do anything with them. Maybe I could use them to find a way to reverse what has happened." Seto looked down at his hands with a calculating look.

"That may be a good idea, but something needs to be done quickly before this spreads, if that's possible. I'll look up information on it on the internet," Ryou added.

"I'll see what the Monsters say can be done about this occurrence. They will not be happy their king is in such possible trouble," came Ishizu's comment.

Yugi smiled and said, "Just let them know I'm ok. I know Mahado will be worried and probably come to check on me anyway, but just reassure the others, ok?"

Ishizu nodded, laughing lightly. "We should probably be going so that the three of you can get some rest. Please, young one, let us know if you need us for anything. We will be there for whatever you may need of us."

The tri-colored haired boy nodded in approval. "We'll let you know. Thank you, guys, for all your help. Knowing that all of you were waiting for us to get out made the long stay a little more bearable."

Soon after, the gang left the shop with only the three and Solomon. "Do you two need to stay here tonight? I'm sure your apartment will be waiting on you in the morning, and it's already after 10 o'clock," Solomon asked.

"Yea, we'll stay tonight. I tink we kinda need one more night togetha to rememba we all made it out of dat experience," Joey said. "Are our spare clothes still ova here, gramps?"

"Of course they are. You two are always over so there's no reason to give them back to you or throw them out," came Solomon's response.

The brother and sister nodded and set out to get baths, change, and get to bed. Once the two had left the room the elderly man turned to grandson. "Your mother asked if you were ok when I talked to her today. Even your father did. Pegasus called every day you three were in that room asking your conditions. He was really worried. He may be over tomorrow afternoon to see you."

"I'm glad he'll get to come. I haven't seen him in a few weeks what with his busy schedule and all. I'm just happy to hear he was actually worried about me; I'm not used to that from a parent figure other than you, grandpa. Were mom and dad happy or upset that I was fine?" The small young man looked over at his grandfather.

"Well, your mother was very relieved. She had been quite worried about you. She usually is, but she has a problem showing it to anyone. Now your father I'm not too sure about…He seemed to be happy you were ok, but I have a hard time reading that man when I talk to him. I'm just glad you took after me and not him." Solomon reached over and ruffled the boy's hair. Then he pulled his hand away and looked at him in an analytical fashion. "Every day, though, you look more and more like a different relative…One who left this world both a long time ago and just a few years ago…Your Egyptian coloring is coming in as is your height. Soon, your voice will even match his. You know, he would be very proud of the man you've become just like I am."

"Thanks, grandpa. And I know. We were always almost twins, but it really makes me feel good knowing that I really descended from him. I had looked up to him as someone I wanted to be like, and now my features are becoming more and more like his. Do you think my eyes'll ever be like his, though?"

"Now that, I'm not so sure of. They may narrow a bit, but I doubt that much. You've kept your innocent look for so long that they may not ever narrow or harden even a little. Especially if they haven't with all you've been through these past seven years. But try not to worry about that right now. You need to go on and get some rest. I'm very sure you're tired after the busy day today and being used to sitting around in a hospital room all day." The elderly man helped his grandson up and nudged toward the stairs.

"Alright, grandpa, I'll see you in the morning. I love you." Yugi yawned as he walked up the stairs.

"Good-night, Yugi, my boy. I love you, too." Solomon smiled up after his 20 year old grandson. It had been seven years since the boy had solved the Millennium Puzzle, set the ancient spirit of the Pharaoh free, and started his crazy and dangerous adventures of saving the world. It had been around three years since things had calmed down, mostly, with the departure of Atem in to the afterlife. Now the man wondered if it was all going to start again because of the accident. What are we going to have to deal with now? And I wonder if those kids are still up to saving the world like old times, or will this bring back depressing memories for my Yugi… Solomon sighed as he shook the thoughts from his head. Answers would come later and right then all the worry over the past week had caught up with the man. He yawned as he headed to get ready for bed and good night sleep now that his grandson was safe and sound back home with him.


	2. Chapter 2

What's Happenning?!

Two weeks had passed since the three were released from the hospital, and it was the day of the check-up. Many of the others had been released, but not without strict rules of how to dress when out in the sun: a long black cloak or just about anything that would keep the UV rays off them. Serenity found out that Tea had been released, but then disappeared along with a few of the others she had been roomed with. Joey, of course, was glad she was gone, but Yugi, with his nature, was worried about the girl. Pegasus had come by and stayed with the group for an entire week due to his worries. Though his being around had been fun, while it lasted.

Yugi woke up that morning to his alarm going off. An Egyptian song gently played through the speakers in a voice that was soaked in the past. Yugi had actually recorded the song while in the ancient realm. A familiar baritone voice began to sing a gentle melody. The small young man's eyes began to water slightly, as they did every morning when listening to the song. He lightly swiped at his eyes and gave a quite giggle. I'm glad I talked him into doing this for me so I could record it.

He stretched as the Pharaoh switched from Egyptian to Japanese, a translation for his friends. Memories flooded the boy, as he hardly ever made it that far into the song (Solomon would usually interrupt by then). Sadness and loneliness began to overpower him as his tears began to trickle down his face. All of a sudden his Shadow Magic burst alive and began to swirl around him. Yami's voice resounded around him. Yugi could feel himself changing, but not as he once had, so he quickly rushed over to mirror and gasped at what he saw staring back at him.

The man in the reflection looked nothing as he was supposed to. Instead of his natural, water-can't-even-flatten, tri-colored, 7-8 inch spikes of hair, long black straight hair feel down his shoulders. His normally lighting bolt shaped bangs stayed blonde, but now limply framed his, now thin and mature looking, face and down into his changed eyes. His eyes were now thin and cold (more so than Yami's could get) instead of their normally wide and large innocence. The pupils were crimson with a dash of the amethyst to give a hint of his retained innocence. In the back of his mind he did note the similarities of his eyes to Atem's, but he still could only see the coldness within them. The man staring back at him was also much taller than his now normal height of 5'6'' reaching almost to the 6' marking. He noted he was also much thinner, but still well muscled, if not more so than normal. Yugi's mouth hung slack as he took in his appearance, when he noticed something even more shocking: small, thin, and sharp fangs. He brought his hand up to see if they were really there when another shock came: his nails were more like long, thin claws. "What's going on?" Came a raspy baritone voice, much like Atem's after nonuse.

The young man's eyes widened even more as he cried out, "Grandpa!!"

The elderly man ran into his grandson's room with a worried look on his face, until he actually saw the boy. "Yu-Yugi, is that you?"

The person nodded with fearful eyes. "What's happening to me, grandpa?" Came the raspy scared voice from the man standing there.

"I'm not sure, Yugi, but what happened before you noticed this change?" Solomon asked, and Yugi explained his morning to that point. The elderly man nodded. "Your Shadow Magic maybe reacting with those nanomachines when you become overly emotional. Those memories saddened and upset you so the two forces combined and activated causing this transformation to occur. Have you tested how you can take sunlight?"

Yugi shook his head no and slowly walked over to his curtained window as he took in the theory. It did seem possible and very likely that it could be the case, but did that also mean Joey and Serenity would be changing like him? Once at the window he gently eased his hand behind the curtain to allow the sun to kiss it lightly. The boy felt no pain and when he pulled his hand back in there was no wound. "Well, I guess I have no sensitivity to the UV rays at least. That's a good thing, I guess… I wonder if Joey and Serenity have had any problems." He was beginning to calm down and suddenly the Shadows formed around him, and he went back to his normal self.

"It's possible they could be having the same reactions with the nanomachines. Maybe you should call them to check. You 3 do have your appointment today. Of course you should also go over this with your doctor." Solomon nodded with a thoughtful look upon his face.

"Ok, I'll call them right now. I would feel better if it was just me, though. I don't want them to get into any more trouble because of me. I mean I got them in enough while we were dealing with maniacs trying to take over the world. I know they are strong, and even have their own set of Shadow Magic, but still, it's unnerving." Yugi headed over to his cell phone beside his bed.

He flipped the phone open and pressed the correct number for his best friend's cell. After a few rings it was answered by the sleepy blonde. "Hey, Joey, I was just wondering if you or Serenity has had any problems with your nanomachines. I mean we have our appointment today, and I was going to see if we needed to talk to the specialist about anything."

Joey could hear the nervousness in the man's voice. "Well, I did get dis strange surge of some weird feeling yesterday when talkin' to our dad. It kinda felt like my Shadow Magic was trying to take ova. Right about den Ren took ova for me. I think she felt it to. Soon afta dough, she hung up on him. Why? You havin' problems, bro?"

"I felt the same thing, but instead of it stopping mine continued. I changed into some strange version of a vampire, but I couldn't be burned by the sun. I'm not sure what really happened. Maybe we should meet up before the appointment and talk." Yugi admitted.

"Alright, let's meet up for breakfast in about 30 minutes. See ya den, Yug." With that Joey and he hung up to get ready for the day.


	3. Chapter 3

*Sorry it's taken so long to get this next chapter up...My college torture has begun once again and well, all I can say is that I hate Animal Nutrition...Though my Martial Arts has been going much better, a lot of pent up frustration to be put into forms ^_^ A test every week is a real killer, but when I'm done with this I'll have it much easier. Being a senior is good...lol!

Anyway, I want to thank those of you that are enjoying my story. I hope I'm keeping everyone in character and hopefully the more exciting things will start up soon. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know ^_^ Well, I'll stop rambling now and let you get to my next chapter:

Breakfast and Appointment

The thirty minutes past a little too quickly for Yugi's taste. He wasn't really ready to face what may be happening to him and his friends. Once at the small café the 3 frequented, he took a seat at a table and waited. A few more minutes passed and the siblings stepped up and sat down; the waitress coming up and taking their orders.

"Alright, Yugi, what happened this morning? What Joey told me has me worried." Serenity decided to start the conversation.

"Well, I got overly emotional when I heard Atem singing…My Shadow Magic took over, and I changed into some kind of human-formed creature." Yugi answered with his head down.

"What did you look like, buddy?" Joey asked next.

Yugi then went on to explain the reflection he had seen in the mirror. Once he was finished, he looked up to see his friends' reactions. Joey had a shocked look on his face while Serenity's was more of a thoughtful look. "That feeling you said you had before you changed…was it like you had something tugging at your heart and mind, an almost pulling darkness? Could you see your shadows begin to form around you in front of your eyes?" Serenity still had the thoughtful look as both boys stared at her.

"Yeah, actually. That's basically how it felt. Is that how you felt before you hung up on your father?" Yugi replied.

"Yeah, more or less. Wait, how'd you know about that?"

"I kinda told him this morin'. But anyway, dat's what I felt too. Maybe dat means dat eventually we'll all go tru it and transform. But dat shows dat our Shadow Magic is controlling it." Joey looked over at the waitress coming to their table, setting out their orders.

"But how are we going to explain that idea to Dr. Takani? She knows nothing about Shadow Magic, and it's not exactly like you can test for reaction-I don't think anyway. Besides that, do you really think she'll believe us? I mean, there are members of our own group of friends that it took forever to get them to believe, and we don't have THAT kind of evidence anymore. Has Ryou found anything yet?" Serenity was still a little cautious when it came to anyone knowing about their abilities. Too many could and would take advantage of them because of it.

"Ryou still hasn't found anything, yet, except for an old story depicting a war between artificial vampires and humans. In the middle of the war were 4 advanced beings, 2 strictly for the vampires, 1 strictly for the humans, and 1 undecided. It was said he was in love with the one on the humans' side, but the other 2 were his siblings. Eventually an unstable peace is made when one of the 2 for the vampires, the male, kills the woman for the humans resulting in the remaining 2, brother and sister, to throw him from their ship to his supposed death. The remaining brother goes to help the humans as his love wanted and the sister takes over as ruler of the vampires, bringing them to live in peace. Both siblings want the races to be joined, but for many years it's not possible. That is until the messenger comes. The sister takes the negotiations into her own hands and sends her most trusted retainer, a small beautiful boy with eyes of ruby, to the center of power for the humans in hopes of bringing them all together. After many trials the brother takes care of the boy and along with a girl with eyes of sapphire he had somewhat adopted the message is passed on. A meeting is wanted between the two groups, and after more tests of emotions all is set right. The harmony is obtained by the marriage of the ruby-eyed boy and sapphire-eyed girl, who turned out to be the last remaining heir to the throne of an old day England-like country. The remaining brother was also married to a female retainer his sister trusted with her life and that he had met when she was hunting down a vampire criminal in his jurisdiction. All 3 sets of races were joined and peace reined, or I guess. The story was never finished after the brother's marriage. It was actually a very interesting story." Yugi explained.

Joey's eyes were wide. "You musta really got into it…But, dey were artificially made vampires, like da othas?"

Yugi nodded. "Experiments were run to see how, oddly enough, a certain style of nanomachines would affect the human body. Some were transformed into the vampires, calling themselves the 'True Human Race' or Methuselah, the name coming from the Bible as being the oldest living man as the vampires lived for many centuries and were immune to many things: sickness, wounds, age…Others died while the last remaining 4 became the higher beings: a vampire's vampire or Crusnik. They had a dose of an alternate style of nanomachines, a more modified version. The 4 could control the turning on and off of the machines, unlike the vampires, by voice command, but they saw themselves as monsters, especially the undecided brother."

"How'd Ryou find that story?" Serenity questioned.

"Well, he just typed in 'Nanomachines' and before abandoning that search, stumbled upon it. He read it and noticed how similar it is to our situation. He printed it out and gave it to me to read. Who knows it may have more to do with what's going on with us than we know." Yugi shrugged.

"Maybe we should say somethin to Dr. Takani about dis story. She may know somethin about it." Joey suggested as he finished up his breakfast, being the last due to how much he had ordered.

Yugi nodded. "Couldn't hurt, I don't guess. Though we probably should be leaving for our appointment now, it's almost time."

The other two agreed, and they went to pay.

After a short walk to the hospital the three checked in and waited to be called. Twenty minutes later, they were called back to see Dr. Takani.

"So how have you three been feeling? Anything strange come up recently?" Dr. Takani smiled as she stepped into the exam room.

"Fairly well, relatively speaking." Yugi answered.

"That doesn't sound all inclusive. Did something happen?" She looked at each of them in turn.

"This morning, something odd happened to me, and Joey and Serenity had something similar occur the other day."

"Well, what was it?" The woman asked.

Yugi sighed and began to describe the occurrences. Once he was finished the doctor sat at the small desk in the room and contemplated what was said. "That's very interesting, and I can't really say that I don't believe you due to the other patients' reactions to the accident. Though I do have to say, I'm pretty stumped as to what is going on. It's odd that your reactions are occurring so much later than everyone else's. You said your friends were looking into possibilities, but do you really think they can find anything on the internet?"

"Actually, Ryou did find somethin dat falls along da lines of what's goin on. Tell her, Yug." Joey stated motioning towards the smaller man.

He nodded and began to explain the story synopsis to the woman. When he had finished the woman began to go over the new bit of information.

"Now that I think about it I do remember something about that novel. There were some extremist doctors that wanted to see just how realistic the ideas could become…I suppose we have found out. I'll put some people on investigation to see what happened to the company that went along with this. Maybe they can give us some answers. Other than that, let's get some tests to check up on you three beyond what you've told me."

With that, she began to draw blood from the 3 friends, noting that the color was still red, *At least that hasn't changed in them.*

Once finished she nodded to them and said, "Well, looks like we'll have to put off the rest of the exam until I get these results back. Where we go from here will be determined by the outcomes. I'll know in a couple of days any new information. I'll call you in so we can discuss this face-to-face. If your friends get anymore leads, let me know. I'll try to do the same with the investigation crew I'm setting up."

The three nodded and headed out. "Let's go get lunch, then call up the rest of the gang and go have some fun." Yugi stated the moment they stepped out of the clinic. The others nodding their approval.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Sorry it took so long to update this...This is my senior year of college. Plus, I was preparing for an interview for a Vet School (something VERY hard to get into). After I got in (my second try) I've been looking for a house and getting things prepared for going there. Not only that, but I'm in my last quarter here, and I've been working on papers, tests, and presentations. Plus, I got to go to a National Tournament for Martial Arts. Well, I guess I'll let this story get on with.

The Beginning

All adventures have a beginning; though, not all start out suddenly. They can take time to grow, be planned, not always to the will of the adventurers. For a certain group of friends this had been a staple in life. Every other week a new threat came along, some other psycho was trying to take over the world with the help of a 'simple' card game. When one adventure was over another was starting, but it hadn't been that way for years until a simple science experiment went terribly wrong. The resulting explosion caused many of the students to lose their lives; whether from death or what could only be classified as "other" was unclear in some cases. This was due to a number of the strangely transformed youths disappearing. No one was sure the reason behind the disappearance, but a month after, the news began a hint of a story that would stun the friends and call them out of their few years worth vacation from saving the world.

Yugi, Joey, and their friends were all hanging out at the Game Shop after their horrid day of classes. Finals had just finished, and the group was whipped from the stress and strain of studying and remembering all they needed to for a passing grade. All tests aside and good reports from the doctor (with no word on the nanomachine company) the gang decided to have a few days all to themselves. Of course for the moment that consisted of everyone sitting around the living room area of shop watching Tristan flip through the channels. Serenity and Yugi were curled together on one side of the couch while Mai and Joey took the other. Vivian sat in a near-by recliner with Duke resting his back against the leg prop. Tristan sat with Miho at his side on the floor in front of the couch, and Ryou sat comfortably in the other recliner in the room. Nothing was really being said by the group as they sat in comfortable silence until Tristan came upon a news channel talking about a series of strange attacks. The brown haired man stopped channel surfing for a moment to listen in.

"All across the area of Tokyo and Domino there have been reports of strange attacks. According to the witnesses each victim would be walking past an ally at night and suddenly disappear. A struggle is heard then nothing. After a few minutes no one comes out so the police are called. When the medics arrive then take the victims in, and within a few days they are released and have no memory of what occurred that night. So far, nothing has been found to link the victims together, leading the authorities to believe the assaults are at random. However, two things have been noticed with each victim: extreme lose of blood without any trace at the crime scene or on the victim, and two small puncture marks with varying distances between each mark. Investigators are looking into the possibility of someone doing these attacks and draining the blood for medical use or such, but this is just stipulation. As of this time, there is not enough evidence to go on; we can only hope those responsible are found quickly and are put away so they cannot harm another."

The gang sat speechless at what the new anchor said. Could this be in regards to the explosion, but that didn't seem right. Why would these 'artificial' vampires actually need to drink blood? They were only artificial, so it had to be something else. Of course, nothing else came to mind, and it was the only explanation that would fit. "What if the explosion caused them to really turn into vampires, and they are the ones doing this?" Serenity finally said what was on everyone's mind.

"We don't know that yet, but it's still a possibility. We have to take everything into consideration. Have the Monsters learned of anything that it could be?" Vivian quietly sighed.

"No, nothing as of now. They are doing some rounds all over, trying to find those that disappeared and see what's become of them. Maybe we could have them try searching the areas that have been attacked. Maybe we should do some of the research like we used to. You know, go there ourselves and look around. It'll make it easier for Mahado and the others to see something because they could actually take a solid form to a better extent than that of now." Yugi suggested.

"If the police can't find anythin', what makes you think dat we…Alright, you got a good point. When it comes ta stuff like dis, we are usually da ones dat can find out what's goin on before othas can. So, when should we do dis, and should be go as one big group or a few small ones?" Joey looked around at the others to see their reactions.

"Probably tonight. I mean, for as many attacks to occur they must be attacking each night. And they've been close to the same place each time: maybe across the road, an alley a further down the street, but so far they've even stayed on the street with minor deviations. Also, even though I don't like the idea, we probably should split up. That way we can cover more ground at once. We'll have our Protector Monsters out to keep us safe if we get attacked. Maybe go in twos so we have a better chance of being safe," Yugi added.

"How will we split up? Couples or what? I mean, Miho doesn't have Shadow Magic, and Vivian doesn't either. How are we going to help with them? I don't want anything to happen to them." Tristan's eyes darted between to the two girls.

"Ryou can always go with you, Tristan. Vivian knows some Martial Arts and can take care herself a little better." Duke suggested.

Tristan and Ryou nodded as Yugi said, "So, we're splitting up in couples. Ok, we leave out tonight. Serenity and I along with Tristan, Serenity, and Ryou will head to Tokyo. It's only an hour's drive or so. The rest of us can go to the areas around here performing sweeps. If anything is found we'll call the others. Though with our groups being so far apart we may have to rely on those closest until we either take care of them, or they escape. Of course, we have to keep in mind that we don't want to do too much damage to whoever is doing this. We don't want any backlash if they have others hiding. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, we are on break, so we should be able to investigate for a few days like this."

The others nodded in agreement. "So you guys are heading out on an adventure like the old days." Solomon sighed from the doorway. "I was afraid something like this would happen; it was just a matter of time before you came out of 'retirement'."

Yugi smiled, though somewhat sadly and nodded. "Yeah, I was enjoying being not really needed by the entire world, but I guess general rest doesn't always last. Besides, our own backgrounds and the new powers will give us some advantage. Let's just hope it's enough. Who knows, maybe we can get through with this quickly and have the rest of the summer off. It could just be some people low on money and taking the blood and selling it."

"We should head out now and do a bit of early on research before we begin our in depth searching. It could give us an idea as to where to begin looking for a future strike points." Ryou suggested, getting agreements from the others.

"Let's be off then." Miho smiled, jumping up and waiting for Tristan.

They all got up and headed out the door, saying goodbye to Solomon as they did. Yugi and Serenity slid into his black Lotus Elise. Tristan hopped on his motorcycle with Miho behind him and Ryou in the side car. Joey and Mai climbed into her purple Ferrari 360 Spider. Duke and Vivian jumped into his blue and white Corvette. Once all engines were started, the groups split up for their respective destinations.


End file.
